Does the amount of salt affect brine shrimp?

Problem Scenario

Broad Question

How does salinity affect brine shrimp?

Specific Question

Does the concentration of salinity affect the brine shrimp population?

Hypothesis

I hypothesize that 0 grams of salt will affect the brine shrimp . The population will be 0 due to the lack of salt in the water.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

amount of salt in grams per 1.75 liters

Dependent Variable:

amount of brine shrimp hatched

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

amount of brine shrimp eggs
amount of water and water quality
temperature
amount of bubblers
size of bottles

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

brine shrimp: a small crustacean that lives in saline lakes ,Artemia salina
salinity: a salty solution
parts per million:a unit of measure of the amount of dissolved solids in a solution of in terms of ratio between number of parts of solids to a million parts of total volume.
napilus: the name for a hatched brine shrimp

references:Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/>.

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General Plan:

The general plan is that I will test different salinity and the affects it has on brine shrimp population . I will set up four 2-liter bottles with 1 .75 liters of water in each. Each bottle contains different amounts of salt. Each bottle has a bubbler that circulates the eggs around. The bottles have a heater next to them so that they stay warm to cause hatching. This project will be done in a safe spot away from people and possible disturbance. I decided to do this experiment at school in the science lab. I will measure the amount of brine shrimp that have hatched in each bottle to see how the salinity affected the population of the brine shrimp.

Potential Problems And Solutions:

Problems may include that the brine shrimp might not hatch. The experiment would have to be started over or add more heat to the bottles .You could loose electricity for that you would have to restart the project . The blubbers could also break so you would have to replace them.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns.

Since there is electricity I will have to be careful with the water and clean up spills. Salt water can cause irritation to the eye so use safety goggles or glasses.

Experimental Design

Number Of Trials:

four

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

One for each bottle

When data will be collected:

April 30 ,2012

Number of Observations:

every school day since March 19, 2012

Where will data be collected?:

In the Team 2 Science room at Kennett Middle School

Resources Budget Table

poster board - Staples- $5.00
two 2-way valves - Pet Quarters - $4.50
air stones: Pet Quarters - $3.00
brine shrimp eggs - school
tubing :Pet Quarters - $3.50
four- 2- liter plastic bottles - home
light-school

Data Table:

Time Line

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Background Research

Brine shrimp (artemia salina) are crustaceans related to crabs and lobsters . Brine shrimp live in isolated parts near the ocean. Brine shrimp also live in Salt Lake in Utah and Mono Lake in California as well as all over the world. Brine shrimp feed on small bacteria and algae. They swim about with two wing like things on each side. The wings on each side of the brine shrimp are paddle-like appendages that act as a propulsion unit to move them around.

Brine shrimp grow to about the size of 1 cm.They also are only distantly related to shrimp we eat.The closest relative is a fairy shrimp which can be found in freshwater ponds in the spring time. Once the eggs hatch, brine shrimp grow rapidly in the correct circulation. The best amount of of salt is 1 and 2/3 mount of salt per quart.

Brine shrimp do not live in open oceans since there are too many predators for them to survive. The high salinity makes for a lack of predators so that's why the choose saline lakes. Female brine shrimp can have live brine shrimp or lay eggs. The eggs can shortly hatch after they are laid or they can go dormant for long periods of time if the conditions change so that the life cycle can start again.

Napilus is the name for a hatched brine shrimp. Napilus take about three to six weeks to reach maturity under correct conditions which would be food,oxygen,and the right amount of salt.

Conditions brine shrimp need: The temperature that will increase the population if the temperature is at 80 or 82 degrees they will hatch in about 24 hours.Good movement in the water will increase the population. 1/2 a teaspoon of brine shrimp eggs per quart is the best amount of eggs since too many will cause a low population.Lighting will increase growth rate by providing consistent heat.

References

"Brine Shrimp." FOSS Welcome Page. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. http://lhsfoss.org/fossweb/teachers/materials/plantanimal/brineshrimp.html

"Brine Shrimp and Ecology of Great Salt Lake." USGS Utah Water Science Center: Great Salt Lake. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. http://ut.water.usgs.gov/greatsaltlake/shrimp/

"Brine Shrimp in the Classroom." BrineShrimpDirect. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/teachers-classroomshrimp-c176.html.

"Hatching Brine Shrimp Cysts." BrineShrimpDirect. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/res-hatching-c169.html.

"Brine Shrimp. [7X6213] Stock Photos | Royalty Free | Royalty Free Photos Visualphotos.com." Stock Photos. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.visualphotos.com/image/1x5068125/brine_shrimp>.

Detailed Procedure

1. Get 4 two liter plastic bottles.
2. Fill each bottle with 1.75 liters of water.
3. Put bottle #1 aside since it does not need salt.
4. Put 15 gram of salt in bottle #2.
5. Put 25 grams of salt in bottle #3.
6. Put 35 grams of salt in bottle #4.
7. Measure out .5 grams of brine shrimp eggs and pour into each bottle.
8. Attach tubing to each of the two 2-way valves.
9. Add air stones to the end of each tube.
10. Place air stones in each of the bottles.
11. Plug in the two air pumps.
12. Place a light in front of the bottles.
13. Observe daily until eggs hatch.
14. Take a sample with a pipette and pour into petri dish
14. Measure results by counting the eggs and the shrimp. Calculate the ratio of brine shrimp to eggs.

Diagram

Photo List

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Results

All Raw Data

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Avo3O0qq6SazdEhmYkd4QzRlc3F4bmZqWkJGSDF2MVE&output=html

Graphs

Photos

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Data Analysis

My data shows the ratio of living brine shrimp to the amount of eggs.For 0 grams the ratio was 0.027777777777778.For 15 grams it was 0 .For 25 grams of salt the amount was 0. For 35 grams it was 0.772.

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Discussion

There was no trend within the data since I did not get any brine shrimp alive in the 15 and 25 gram bottles .The relationship between these two variables was not strong due to the lack of data with the 15 and 25 gram bottles.I was able to answer the experiment question using the data collected. The problems I had with the experiment was that the first time I set up the project, the brine shrimp did not hatch due to the lack of heat and light. The second time was that they hatched but then perished before I was able to collect the data for 15 and 25 gram bottles.A difficulty with counting brine shrimp hatch was that they were hard to count due to the size of the eggs and brine shrimp that hatched. I could the improve experiment by controlling the heat, I could have had more accurate data if I measured the mass of the brine shrimp population.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

This experiment would benefit the market for brine shrimp that is sold to feed pet fish in freshwater and saltwater tanks. They could find the best salinity to hatch the brine shrimp in. This could also benefit the field of biology in finding new species of shrimp and how are they are related to other members of the shrimp family. This could also benefit the study of the salt lakes and creatures that live there. Scientist could figure out problems in these lakes with how brine shrimp are doing. They could also see if the brine shrimp change with changing conditions of these salt lakes.

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to see how salinity affects brine shrimp population.I hypothesized that 0 grams of salt would not affect the brine shrimp.I set up four 2-liter bottles filled with water and each with different amounts of salt in each bottle. I then added the 0.5 grams of brine shrimp eggs to each bottle. I waited for them to hatched then counted the brine shrimp from a sample from each bottle.Brine shrimp (artemia salina) live in isolated ponds near the oceans.Brine shrimp need conditions such as correct circulation and right amount of salinity and light in which to grow and survive. The results.that brine shrimp could grow in 0 grams of salt and 35 grams of salt. I concluded that brine shrimp are affected by the salinity of the water.